Lawyers for Texas insist state didn’t discriminate against minorities in redistricting maps

Texas Republicans insist that they did not discriminate against Latinos and African Americans while redrawing congressional district lines.

Lawyers for the state of Texas told a judicial panel Wednesday that the Republican-controlled Legislature did not intend to discriminate against minorities when it redrew lines to favor GOP candidates.

The state contends that new political maps should be approved because it took into account Hispanic populations when it redrew lines.

But Justice Department lawyers argued before the three-judge panel that the new maps lessened the chances of Latinos to choose candidates of their choice in San Antonio- and Corpus Christi-based districts.

“Texas did the best that it could,” said David Schenk, Texas deputy attorney general, one of two state lawyers who defended GOP-drawn congressional and state House maps during a three-hour hearing.

The Justice Department says the political maps nonetheless discriminate against minority voters and violate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has sued the Justice Department in federal court asking the court to bypass preclearance requirements and approve the maps within two weeks so that Texas elections move forward without delays.

That timeline appeared unlikely.

District Judge Rosemary Collyer told lawyers she understood the urgency, but noted the court “only got the last briefs yesterday.”

Another three-judge federal panel in San Antonio will again hear testimony Thursday that the congressional and state House maps diluted minority voting strength, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and should be redrawn.

The federal panel in San Antonio is prepared to draw an interim map by Nov. 12, the first day to file for statewide office, so that primary elections can be held next March 6.

In Washington, Texas argued its position after the Justice Department filed briefs with a federal court that found the new maps were retrogressive.

The congressional redistricting denied Latinos an ability to elect candidates of their choice in seats now held by Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi.

But the state argued that the Legislature specifically moved to protect a Hispanic incumbent, Canseco.

The Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, and the NAACP have urged the Justice Department not to preclear the new political maps.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act requires that states with a history of electoral abuses have new maps precleared to avoid discriminatory voting practices.

Texas claims the GOP-drawn maps should be pre-cleared because they were drawn to protect political gains and do not discriminate based on race.

Latino population increases account for 5.1 million of the state’s new residents that will create four new congressional seats, bringing the number of the delegation to 36 from 32 members.

Texas says the new congressional map would increase the number of minority districts from eight to 10.

But the Justice Department maintains that despite population gains, the number of minority districts remains at 10 and the percentage of minority voters in minority opportunity districts falls from 31.3 percent to 27.7 percent.

Lawyer John Devaney said Latinos in San Antonio were the political victim of “whimsical” requests that placed the San Antonio County Club in the district of Republican Rep. Lamar Smith while carving out a out a new district between San Antonio and Austin.

Devaney said the new map takes the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center out of the district that Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, a Democrat, represented for nearly four decades.

While Texas asserts the number of minority state House districts increased by one to 42, the Justice Department said the number of minority districts was reduced from 50 to 45.